Pipeline industry: Thriving now, but at the cost of the oil & gas industry

Oct 30: Cheap Chinese imports had taken the bottom out of the Indian line pipe industry until the government decided to impose sttep anti-dumping duties ranging from $961-1611 per tonne. 8Then again, a value added clause was added to tenders finalized by oil and gas companies.8A combination of these factors has had two distinct impacts:-- The cost of pipelines have gone up steeply in India as a handful of suppliers begun forging cartels to keep prices up.-- The fortunes of domestic steel companies, buoyed by protectionism, have shown a sharp upsurge.8Clearly, the relationship between higher profitability and protectionism has not been established beyond doubt8At the receiving end, of course, is the oil and gas industry.Click on Reports on how this has worked to raise the turnover and profitability of some of the largest domestic pipe manufacturers in India